Saturday, September 26, 2015

Just a quick stop here this morning. I was planning to show you the changes that washing made to Pink, but I have no pictures yet, so soon, maybe I can write that post later today. I did want to let you know that the photo above was picked for Flickr Explore.

The winner of the electronic copy of Machine Quilting With Style by my friend Christa Watson is number 47, Ioleen, who blogs at Back Home Quilter. I know Ioleen in real life from the Edmonton Modern Quilt Guild - it is always fun when someone you know in person's number comes up in the random number generator. Congratulations Ioleen.

Thursday, September 24, 2015

Here is a new quilt finish, Pink. The pattern is called Lightning and it is from my friend Christa Watson's new book, Machine Quilting With Style. Today is my stop on the blog hop for this great new book. You can read the story behind this pattern over at Christa Quilts today - go here.

I was very excited to be included in Christa's blog hop. Christa and I have become internet friends and we even got to meet in person at Quilt Market and at QuiltCon. She loves machine quilting, and you know I love machine quilting, she wants to encourage more people to show modern quilts at quilt shows, and so do I, well, you get the picture, she is a kindred quilty spirit.

Christa asked many of the participants in the blog hop to make one of the quilt patterns in the book and I chose the pattern called Lightning. I have never made a rail fence quilt, and Christa's modern twist on this traditional pattern caught my eye. My version is about 60" square, the pattern in the book includes instructions for a full bed size version.

Although the book has a number of lovely modern quilt patterns, I especially loved the parts that focus on the quilting. For my quilt, I used two colours of thread, a light pink for the stipple/meander quilting on the pink parts and a soft grey for the lightning bolts. Both my choices were Superior Threads King Tut 50wt cotton threads. I love how the colours add just a little extra to the quilt.

As you can see, I used a stipple/meander quilting pattern for all the pink areas, just as Christa suggests in the book. Originally I thought I would change the quilting for each stepped diagonal part of pink but I was having such a great time stippling that I decided to stick with it.

I took some photos in harsher light to purposely show off the quilting more. You can see that I decided to try a number of the other quilting patterns Christa features in Machine Quilting With Style in the grey lighting bolts. I used switchbacks - a design that I use often and love.

Pebbles, a design I love but seldom use as they are time consuming. But I love they way pebbles look and realize I want to use them more.

I used boxes - a square meander - which is another favourite quilting motif of mine.

Of course I used parallel lines, perhaps my very favourite quilting motif of all.

I did my best to give the quilt an overall balance of quilting density. The lightning bolt areas are a bit denser but not extremely so.

Christa shares a number of excellent tips for walking foot and free motion quilting in the book. A reader could easily work through the patterns and the quilting motif and become a proficient quilter by the end.

I wanted to mention that I quilted Pink on my long arm quilting machine, not my domestic machine. I was able to easily use all the quilting motifs and I think my quilting is much like that done on the home machine for these patterns. My only challenge on the long arm was working diagonally down the quilt - there was a fair bit of advancing and then returning the quilt to the earlier position to begin again. I had not done that before and I learned that it was no big deal to do so. All in all, Christa's book is, in my view, useful for most every quilter.

I pieced my back with some of my favourite Laura Gunn prints. I have been saving her painterly prints and was happy to see how well they worked with this quilt top. As I used the same pink and grey thread in the bobbin, you can see how the lightning bolts stand out on the back of the quilt too.

All of the photos in this post are before the quilt was washed. I have since washed her and may add a photo of it washed later. But since the book is about quilting, the better photos of quilting are before the wash induced crinkle happens.

I bound this quilt with this lovely Maker print. I was originally thinking of a scrappy pink binding but I am glad I went with this one print instead. It seems to gently hold all the scrappy riot in the quilt.

I have an electronic copy of this fantastic book to give away as part of the blog hop too. To enter, leave me just one comment. Let me know if you are a confident quilter - as opposed to piecer - and if you like the quilting part. I will randomly draw the winner at 6 am MST (first thing) on Saturday morning.

Christa is going to host a quilt along and you can help her chose which pattern from the book to use by competing the survey here.

And here is the full blog hop schedule - there are many inspiring posts along the way for you to check out.

Plus, there will be additional stops on the hop from the awesome people listed below. They will be sharing their insights including book reviews, interviews, sample blocks, and other interesting content you won’t want to miss.

I have truly enjoyed Machine Quilting With Style and I expect you would too. And Pink, well she is just so pretty, I am loving her too.

Besides entering my giveaway for an electronic copy of Christa's book by commenting on today's post, head over to Christa Quilts for links to a couple of other giveaways too. And several of the blog hop stops also include giveaways too, in addition to inspiration.

Tuesday, September 15, 2015

All I have for you today is the winners of the September link. I have nothing new to share as I did not manage time to use my scraps or organize my scraps since last Tuesday, and since long before that. I am easing into my new routines with this house move and I'm gathering a list of scrappy projects, including those inspired by the fantastic links, but actual sewing using the scraps is on the to do list.

So instead, let's get on to the winners. First, thank you to our fantastic sponsors:

Here are the prizes and the randomly awarded winners (I use random.org) from those of you who linked up:

I'll be sending out emails this morning between errands and day job work to get our lucky winners connected with their prizes.

Thank you to everyone who joined Nicky from Mrs. Sew and Sow and I for the September Scraptastic Tuesday link. As I said, I am enjoying checking out the links and the inspiration you are all providing. Our next link will open the second Tuesday of October which is October 13, the day after Canadian Thanksgiving this year.

Plus, there will be additional stops on the hop from the awesome people listed below. They will be sharing their insights including book reviews, interviews, sample blocks, and other interesting content you won’t want to miss.

My quilt for the hop - my pattern is Lightning - is almost ready for photographs and its big reveal on the 24th. I finished the quilting this past weekend. It was so wonderful to be actually quilting again, I have missed it so much.

Last, I signed up to go to Sew Pro, which is a conference next September. It is not a sewing retreat, it is all about taking your blogging, writing, pattern designing and fabric designing to the next step. The instructors are fantastic too. I don't suppose any of you want to come to Chicago next fall too?

I've a lot of day job work this week and then I have a quick work trip at the weekend. But I have lots more to share to catch you up, so watch for more here on that.

Tuesday, September 8, 2015

Surprise, it's the second Tuesday of the month, and time for the Scraptastic Tuesday link up hosted by Nicky - Mrs. Sew and Sow and me. We are a bit late out of the gate today as the second Tuesday of September snuck up on us a bit, this being just September 8 and all.

I have to admit to no scrap project to share and no tips this week. I have that space in the photo, beside that brown shelf where some things have been piled up. It is supposed to have my scrap bins at the bottom and batting on the wall to be a design wall, but that has not happened yet.

My only "tip" this week is finish your unpacking when you move and place your scraps in a handy location. I have many scrap projects that I want to work on and start and I am hoping for more inspiration from your links. Hopefully I will have something good to share next Tuesday.

Now, its time for you to link up and share your scrappy projects to inspire us all.

A huge thank you to our generous sponsors for providing the following prizes which will be awarded randomly among those of you who link up:

Please join Nicky from Mrs. Sew and Sow and I by linking up a blog post or flickr or instagram photo sharing a scrappy project, in progress or finished, or your thoughts on dealing with your scrap mountain:

You don't have to have joined us before, everyone is welcome.

One link per person, and it will be your entry into the random draw for the prizes. It is the same link up here and at Nicky's blog - Mrs. Sew and Sow - so you only need to link up on one of our blogs.

Please visit at least a few of the links, they are very inspiring, and leave comments too as everyone loves to connect.

Use the Scraptastic Tuesday button if you like (code is on the sidebar) and invite your friends to join us too.

The link is open until next Monday night at 10:00 pm MST. We will announce the winners next Tuesday.

If you have trouble linking up, let me or Nicky know and we will get you sorted.